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Purpose: Given the research gaps identified in a literature review, this study aims to uncover how the intensity of learners' motivational behavior and its predictors vary with grade level. Methodology: A large-scale survey was conducted to examine motivational behavior and its predictors among EFL learners across three education levels and ten grades in Taiwan: primary school (Grades 3 to 6), junior high school (Grades 7 to 9), and senior high school (Grades 10 to 12). A total of 12,441 valid cases were collected from both rural and urban areas in Taiwan. ANOVA and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data. Findings: The results showed a significant effect of grade level on the intensity of motivational behavior. Specifically, learners' intensity of motivational behavior tended to decline with grade level (years of study). The significant predictors of motivational behavior also differed with grade level. Significance: In addition to theoretical and methodological contributions to L2 motivation research, this study can enhance understanding of factors that could enhance learners' motivational behavior and offer implications to assist EFL teachers in developing motivational teaching strategies.

In this article we report on an exploration of leadership and context for the improvement of quality education in South African socioeconomic-deprived school contexts viewed through Hellinger's contextual theory, open systems theory, Bronfenbrenner's ecology of human development, and Bourdieu's theory of field, habitus and power. A post positivistic approach allowed for a quantitative research design which employed an interpretivist lens to use the theory and the context to interpret the numbers. A self-designed questionnaire was used for the data collection. We analysed the data by means of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) analysis program and evaluated using a Likert scale. In the study reported on here, the mean scores -- sorted from the highest, which means the most important factor, to the lowest -- are presented. The findings reveal that low teacher professionalism and non-compliance to the regulations, contextual factors outside the schools (teenage pregnancy, vandalism), learners' circumstantial challenges, high accountability by the department without considering schools' contextual factors, and a lack of parental involvement in the teaching-learning process were among the biggest challenges for principals to influence quality education.

Information technology (IT) is transforming the world. Therefore, exposing students to computing at an early age is important. And, although computing is being introduced into schools, students from a low socio-economic status background still do not have such an opportunity. Furthermore, existing computing programs may need to be adjusted in accordance to the specific characteristics of these students in order to help them to achieve the learning goals. Aiming at bringing computing education to all middle and high-school students, we performed a systematic literature review, in order to analyze the content, pedagogy, technology, as well as the main findings of instructional units that teach computing in this context. First results show that these students are able to learn computing, including concepts ranging from algorithms and programming languages to artificial intelligence. Difficulties are mainly linked to the lack of infrastructure and the lack of pre-existing knowledge in using IT as well as creating computing artifacts. Solutions include centralized teaching in assistive centers as well as a stronger emphasis on unplugged strategies. However, there seems to be a lack of more research on teaching computing to students from a low socio-economic status background, unlocking their potential as well to foster their participation in an increasing IT market.

The increase in borderless digital-based business competition shows how language education is impacted by neoliberalism in this global era. We explore how linguistic technopreneurship (LT) roles is increasingly constructed as a form of linguistic entrepreneurship to exploit language-related resources to enhance one's socioeconomic value strategically. This research aims to critically examine the influence of LT toward business success digitalization for Small Medium Enterprises in West Java and it's implication for Language Education. The research also focusing on the creation of novelty, namely linguistic technopreneurship (LT), which is a refinement of entrepreneurial linguistics (EL). LT is expected to be able to explain how linguistic entrepreneurship can be indexed from two different aspects, namely how to package language education and digital business success. We then discuss under what conditions the notion of linguistic technopreneurship can be applied to digital platform-based business settings and what kind of contradictions this gives rise to. The method used is quantitative, and it involves carrying out SEM analysis. A non-probability sampling technique was used to obtain a minimum of 250 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and Industry owners who run their businesses through digital platforms in West Java province, which is the province with the most significant number of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and Industries in Indonesia. The research results show that LT significantly influences the success of business success and impact the language education practice. It can be concluded that language education is an added value for a person and influences socioeconomic success.

We are increasingly realizing that technology and its use in learning contexts is not benign. With the advent of more powerful technology tools, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) ones, combined with the historically significant changes that have occurred in education over the last four years, there are more reasons than ever to examine their influence on human beings in the process of "being educated". The aim of our 3-year longitudinal study was to understand how programs being offered at a fully online technical higher education (HE) institution in Chile influenced the identity development of students from socio-economically and educationally disadvantaged backgrounds. A Participant Action Research (PAR) approach was adopted to the study that involved macro, meso and micro-driven changes being made to programs. These changes involved aligning the instructional design, pedagogical approaches, and technology tools of programs with contemporary e-learning theory and 21st century learning goals. Previously, we provided three in-depth reports of the evolving changes on learners' identities - in the beginning, mid and end phases of their programs. We also reported on teachers' perspectives of learners' evolving identities and the transformation of their own roles and practices during the change period. In this paper, we add to those findings with the results of a recent inquiry into the perspectives of macrolevel administrators who were instrumental in the collaborative effort to bring about change to the institution. In this latest study, we employed in-depth focus group and individual interviews to unpack what the change involved on the part of these decision makers in terms of their own epistemological and ontological perspectives, their roles in the institution and their future goals for the organization. The framework we have developed for schematizing the results of these previous inquiries and those of the overall longitudinal study could prove useful in other organizations that are awakening to the need to successfully put e-learning theory to practice in their institutions. The insight to be gained in this framework could add to their efforts to seek pragmatic ways to bring about systemic changes in their online programs and to graduate students with the kinds of identities and skills that will best equip them for the complex world in which they will work and live.

This position paper identifies the complexity of the special education teacher (SET) shortage and the social injustices of the already marginalized population of students with disabilities (SWD). Nationally, policy reforms and teacher certification initiatives may have unknowingly perpetuated the shortage of SET in an attempt to increase the supply and strengthen the impact of teacher quality on student outcomes. There are documented factors contributing to the shortage as well as initiatives designed to increase the supply of SET. The disparities in the access to highly qualified SET for SWD have been evident for decades. The negative impact on academic and behavioral outcomes of SWDs are even greater for those SWDs who experience the intersectionality of race, low-socioeconomic status, certain geographical location, and low-incident disabilities. An immediate call to action is required for sustainable resolutions to increase the supply of highly qualified SET to ensure SWDs access to a "free, appropriate, public education" and eliminate the modern day "Have Nots" of the already marginalized in society.

In this policy brief, we use research findings to illuminate experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic of U.S. rural college students from poor and working-class backgrounds. We offer institutional, state, and federal policy lessons gleaned from such experiences. We show how rural, poor and working-class students' higher education success was impacted by COVID-19 and how the pandemic highlighted and exacerbated existing systemic geographic and social class barriers faced by such students pursuing college. In turn, we hope postsecondary policymakers at the institutional, state, and federal levels can learn from these experiences to better support rural, poor, and working class students in the future, even during times of continued crisis.

The lifelong learning strategy is one of the most significant strategies suggested for bringing up modern persons in the appropriate circumstances. This study attempts to identify, in terms of several characteristics, the lifelong learning tendencies of the Turkish language, literature, and Turkish teacher candidates. 297 students studying Turkish Language and Literature as well as Turkish Teacher Certification at a university in the east of Turkey make up the study's sample in the survey model. The Lifelong Learning Tendency Scale (Gür Erdoan & Arsan, 2016) was used to gather the research's data. The information gathered throughout the study was analyzed using four distinct methods, including frequency, percentage, t-test for independent groups, and Kruskal Wallis H test. The statistical software package SPSS for Windows 22.00 was used to analyze the data. The study's findings revealed that, when it comes to gender-related factors, female teacher candidates had stronger lifelong learning tendencies than male teacher candidates. It was discovered that teacher candidates who read books frequently--every day, every other day, and once a week--had better propensities for lifetime learning than those who read books just once a month. It was found that teacher candidates with stronger dispositions toward lifelong learning studied scientific/academic, personal development, adventure, novel/story, and literary genres. Additionally, it was discovered through the research that there was no significant difference in the lifelong learning tendencies of teacher candidates about factors like age, the department or major of science they studied in college, the grade level they studied in, family income level, the education levels of their mothers and fathers, and preferred reading model. In general, it was found that teacher applicants scored extremely well on the lifelong learning tendencies scale when it came to their responses regarding their degrees of willingness to learn and grow over time.

Purpose: The present study investigates the influence of demographic factors on the demand for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Pakistan. The government of Pakistan has implemented various skill enhancement programs to harness the demographic dividend. However, only a small portion of the workforce receives any form of TVET, contributing to a shortage of skilled workers in the country. Many industries, particularly in manufacturing and mining, face deficits in the skilled labour. Consequently, this study aims to examine the role of demographic factors in shaping the demand for TVET within the Pakistani context. Methods: For the TVET demand's estimation, this study employed the Pakistan Social and Living Standard Measurement (PSLM) dataset of 2018-19 by using binary logistic regression analysis (BLRA). The demographic variables include the household's income, household head's education, household size, male proportion of the target age group, household head's age, and region of the household. Findings: The findings indicate that households in the higher income category do not demand TVET. Moreover, if the head of the household is highly educated, then the household is less likely to participate in TEVT. So, the higher the socio-economic status, the lower the probability of demand for TVET from the better-off students. Further, this study also indicates that boys are more likely to participate in TVET-related degrees, while females are less likely to participate in TVET due to the non-availability of institutes and hostel facilities, poor transportation, the limited number of trades available for females, and security issues. Conclusion: The findings provide insightful evidence to support the idea that the higher the socio-economic status of households, the lower the probability of demand for a TVET degree or diploma. Similarly, children of parents with university education are less likely to pursue TVET-related degrees. The reason is likely attributed to the perception that TVET-associated degrees and diplomas are considered inferior due to their lower standing and prestige as compared to general or professional degrees. This study suggests that the attractiveness of TVET can be enhanced by improving the quality of TVET, improving labour market outcomes, and creating a pathway to general education. Overall, this study not only contributes to empirical analyses of socio-economic determinants in TVET demand but also suggests that its findings can be applied not only to South Asian countries but also to other comparable nations with similar cultural ties and affinities.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent school closures have had profound impacts on learners and their families globally, affecting their psychosocial wellbeing. However, the extent and nature of these effects, particularly in diverse socioeconomic contexts, remain largely under-explored. Aim: This study aimed to investigate the effects of school closures on the psychosocial wellbeing of children and parents in South Africa's Gauteng province. Setting: The research included families from various socioeconomic backgrounds in Gauteng province, South Africa. Methods: Using an ethnographic research approach, diary-style entries via the WhatsApp mobile app were collected from 43 families, and semi-structured telephonic interviews were conducted with 21 families. Results: The study found that children experienced adverse emotions, including loneliness, boredom, anxiety and isolation during school closures. Parents reported elevated stress levels and increased caregiving burden. The severity of impact was influenced by access to resources for online or home-schooling. Conclusion: The findings highlight the multi-dimensional implications of school closures on families and underscore the importance of providing adequate support during such disruptions, taking into account the varying effects across socioeconomic backgrounds. Contribution: This study fills a crucial gap in understanding the psychosocial impacts of school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic on children and parents within diverse socioeconomic contexts. The findings call for equitable access to educational resources, evidence-based remediation efforts, and integrated mental health support services.

Students in over 150 countries experienced school closures throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In the years following, a growing body of literature seeks to estimate the impacts of these education disruptions on a diverse set of outcomes, including student learning. This article adds to this research by examining causal evidence through a difference-in-differences framework (DID). Results suggest that school closures led to learning losses in math for high school seniors in public schools in the Federal District (DF) in Brazil. And while all racial groups experienced learning loss, White and Asian students experienced the most significant losses in 2020. We find no evidence of learning recovery from 2020 to 2021 for any racial groups, suggesting that learning losses persisted into school reopening. We do find, however, possible signs of recovery for female senior students compared to male students. Nevertheless, male and female performance differences are still prominent when analyzing data from 2016 to 2021. The utilization of critical policy analysis and the effectively maintained inequality frameworks can offer insights into significant learning disparities experienced by students.

Prior research underscores the pivotal role high school freshman grade-point averages (FGPA) play in college enrollment, with a focus predominantly on urban settings. This study broadens this perspective, employing a diverse Arkansas sample (n = 33,207), spanning rural, suburban, and urban high school students and filling a notable literature gap. Utilizing a logit analysis, we found that high school students with an A FGPA were 23% more likely to enroll in college than B FGPA peers. Those failing a course in their high school freshman year were 13% less likely to enroll in college. Among similar academic ability students, economically disadvantaged students were 15% less likely to enroll in college. Locale classifications showed no significant enrollment variations. We conclude that FGPA and socioeconomic status (SES) are stronger enrollment predictors than locale classifications, finishing with intervention recommendations for lower-SES students in exploring college options.

Grade repetition is an issue with important educational implications. This study analyzes the effect of cognitive variables, socio-economic status, as well as the interaction of socioeconomic status with ethnic origin, on the probability of not repeating. Data were collected to calculate socioeconomic status using the Hollingshead Socioeconomic Index, and the following tests were administered to collect information on cognitive variables: the Primary Mental Aptitude Test (PMA), the Raven's Progressive Matrices Test, and the Wechsler Intelligence for Children Information Scale (WISC IV). The sample consisted of 664 students of Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO), Baccalaureate and intermediate and higher vocational training. The results confirm the predictive power of socioeconomic status. With regard to cognitive variables, significant results were only obtained when the WISC-IV Information Scale was taken as a predictor, this measure being related to crystallized intelligence. The influence of the origin of the students did not yield significant results. There is a clear need for a debate and a rethinking of the issue leading to the identification of new strategies to reduce grade repetition and its negative effects.

This study explores the influences of parental socio-economic status on their engagement practices in rural secondary schools in Bangladesh. This study took place in a specific context where the majority of parents lacked literacy and faced financial constraints. This reality hindered their ability to provide adequate support for their children's education. A qualitative case study research has been chosen to carry out the research. The data has been collected using group discussion, semi-structured interviews and observation from five rural secondary schools in Bangladesh. The findings of this study revealed that parental engagement initiatives related to the annual programs of schools resulted in limited practice of one-to-one communication with parents. The lack of parental literacy, poverty, and being the first generation to receive schooling were identified as fundamental factors that hindered regular and overall engagement initiatives. Furthermore, there is limited opportunity for both parents and teachers to actively participate in the schooling system. In this regard, this study emphasized the importance of place and suggested contextually formed initiatives for further improvement of parental engagement.

Ensuring equity in education is a goal for sustainable development. Among the factors that hinder equity, socioeconomic status (SES) has the highest impact on learning Mathematics. This paper addresses the issue of equity at the secondary school level by proposing an approach based on adopting automatic formative assessment (AFA). Carefully designed mathematical activities with interactive feedback were experimented with a sample of 299 students of grade 8 for a school year. A control group of 257 students learned the same topics using traditional methodologies. Part of the sample belonged to low SES. The learning achievement was assessed through pre-and post-tests to understand if the adoption of AFA impacted learning and whether the results depended on the students' SES. The results show a positive effect of the experimentation (effect size: 0.42). Moreover, the effect size of the experimentation restricted to the low-SES group is high (0.77). In the treatment group, the results do not depend on SES, while in the control group, they do, suggesting that AFA is an equitable approach while traditional instruction risks perpetuating inequalities.

The purpose of the study was to better understand the extent to which middle school principals' transformational leadership styles affect teachers' data-informed instruction, the influence of teachers' data-informed instruction on middle school student achievement, and the extent to which transformational leaders affect student achievement through data-informed instruction. Therefore, for this study, survey data were collected using Kenneth Leithwood's Transformational School Leadership Survey, as well as Jingping Sun's Data-Informed Instruction Survey. Additionally, this study used Scantron performance data for sixth-grade math to determine the effects of transformational school leaders on student achievement through data-informed instruction. The results showed that transformational school leadership has no effect on middle school teachers' data-informed instruction, and middle school teachers' data-informed instruction has no significant effect on student achievement, with socioeconomic status controlled. The study also showed that transformational school leadership has no statistically significant effect on student achievement through teachers' data-informed instruction. The results of this study help us understand the extent to which transformational school leadership affects student achievement through teachers' data-informed instruction. It also provides knowledge that will help us better educate aspiring leaders, making them effective transformational leaders in schools.

This study used the COVID Social Mobility and Opportunities (COSMO) Study to examine home learning and parent attitudes to education during COVID-19 in relation to demographic and household financial circumstances and parent educational aspirations. The findings showed that White, female, and degree-educated parents were more likely than their counterparts to report positive attitudes to home learning, support their 16-year-olds' learning, and contact schools during the lockdowns. Parents who experienced food poverty and reported being financially worse off after the pandemic were less likely to support home learning or contact schools but reported largely positive attitudes to learning. Also, parents who reported lower educational aspirations were more likely to support their children's learning, reflecting their educational needs. This study contributes to our understanding of home learning during the pandemic and has implications for public policy and action regarding supporting children's learning during health crises and reducing education inequalities.

Effortful control, the ability to suppress a dominant response over a subdominant one, is a fundamental aspect of self-regulation. It has been observed that higher levels of parenting stress are associated with lower levels of effortful control in children. Perceived social support, an important factor in reducing parenting stress, may act as a buffer against the negative effects of parenting stress on children's effortful control skills. To investigate this assumption, we collected data from 199 mothers in Türkiye, who had children between the ages of 3 and 6 years. Mothers reported on their parenting stress levels, perceived social support, and their children's effortful control. Our results revealed that perceived social support moderated the relationship between parenting stress and children's effortful control after controlling for socioeconomic status. Moreover, the buffering effect of perceived social support became stronger as the level of social support increased, subsequently weakening the relationship between parenting stress and children's effortful control. These findings suggest that parental perceived social support plays a pivotal role in mitigating the adverse effects of parenting stress on healthy child development. These cross-sectional findings warrant a longitudinal investigation into the interrelations among parenting stress, perceived social support, and children's effortful control.

Executive functions (EFs) in early childhood are predictors of later developmental outcomes and school readiness. Much of the research on EFs and their psychosocial correlates has been conducted in high-income, minority world countries, which represent a small and biased portion of children globally. The aim of this study is to examine EFs among children aged 3-5 years in two African countries, South Africa (SA) and The Gambia (GM), and to explore shared and distinct predictors of EFs in these settings. The SA sample (N = 243, 51.9% female) was recruited from low-income communities within the Cape Town Metropolitan area. In GM, participants (N = 171, 49.7% female) were recruited from the rural West Kiang region. EFs, working memory (WM), inhibitory control (IC) and cognitive flexibility (CF), were measured using tablet-based tasks. Associations between EF task performance and indicators of socioeconomic status (household assets, caregiver education) and family enrichment factors (enrichment activities, diversity of caregivers) were assessed. Participants in SA scored higher on all EF tasks, but children in both sites predominantly scored within the expected range for their age. There were no associations between EFs and household or familial variables in SA, except for a trend-level association between caregiver education and CF. Patterns were similar in GM, where there was a trend-level association between WM and enrichment activities but no other relationships. We challenge the postulation that children in low-income settings have poorer EFs, simply due to lower socioeconomic status, but highlight the need to identify predictors of EFs in diverse, global settings.

This study investigated children's and adolescents' reasoning about intergroup exclusion based on social class from educational opportunities in Türkiye. The role of children's and adolescents' perceived contact with friends from different socioeconomic backgrounds on their evaluations of exclusion and personal solutions to the exclusion was also examined. Participants (N = 270) included 142 children (8-10 years old, M[subscript age] = 9.80; SD = 0.82; 53.5% girls) and 128 adolescents (14-16 years old, M[subscript age] = 15.46; SD = 0.91, 61.7% girls) from lower (N = 144) and higher (N = 126) socioeconomic backgrounds. Results showed that while most participants viewed social class-based exclusion as wrong, adolescents were more likely to view it as wrong than were children. Adolescents from lower SES approached social class-based exclusion as less acceptable than did adolescents from higher SES who referred to expectations about conformity to authority and the status quo. Moderation analyses showed that for adolescents from higher SES, higher perceived contact with friends from lower SES was associated with decreased acceptability of exclusion and increased motivation to provide equity.

The Australian education system features considerable socioeconomic inequality and is a frequent source of controversy in Australian public life. Yet meaningful reform to this system has proven elusive. In this article, we examine the public's fairness perceptions of educational inequality based on parental financial capacity, using an online survey of adults (N = 1,999) from New South Wales, Australia. We asked about the fairness of inequality in school resources and education quality, and used a scenario in which students from high-income and low-income families had achievement gaps due to differences in educational experiences. Respondents had diverse perceptions about the fairness of educational inequality, but most perceived the scenario as unfair or very unfair. The partial proportional odds models showed that self-interest and neoliberal orientations predicted people's fairness perceptions of educational inequality. The findings of this study have implications for achieving meaningful reform of the Australian education system that is in line with public opinion.

Background: Children with intellectual and developmental disabilities are at a higher risk of developing dental caries. Few scoping reviews have been conducted in India to understand their issues. We aimed to summarise the distribution and risk factors of dental caries among children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities in India. Methods: A scoping review was conducted based on the Arksey O Malley framework. Quality assessment of studies, descriptive and thematic analyses were also conducted. Results: We charted, collated, and summarised from four databases. Thirty-one studies met the study criteria consisting of children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities. Median caries prevalence was 70%, decayed missing and fIlled permenant teeth (DMFT) was 2.4, decayed missing and filled decidous teeth (dmft) was 2.36, and DMFS was 3.7. Major determinants were the severity of disability, socioeconomic status and parents' education. Oral care and dental visits were inadequate. Conclusion: Further exploration is required to improve access and reduce caries experience and prevalence among children with intellectual and developmental disabilities in India.

This study analyzed data from the Korea Welfare Panel Study to identify changing patterns in social exclusion among South Korean youth and determine the influencing factors. The study examined 345 youth from 2012 to 2021. A fuzzy set theory and growth mixture model was used to measure social exclusion and identify patterns and the associated factors during this timeframe. The main findings are as follows. First, the social exclusion gap among South Korean youth that emerged a decade ago has continued, with high, middle, and low levels of exclusion identified. Second, the analysis revealed that looking at the demographics, being female, having less education and lower personal and household income increased the likelihood of falling into a relatively higher level of social exclusion. Based on the results, policy recommendations are suggested to mitigate the social exclusion gap among Korean youth.

Background: The origin of inequalities in health outcomes has been explained by health selection and social causation models. Health selection processes operate particularly at school age. We study, if student allocation to teaching groups with aptitude tests (selective vs general class) differentiates adolescents by health behaviors and mental health. Methods: Finnish schoolchildren 12-13 years from 12 selective classes, n = 248; 41 general classes, n = 703 answered a questionnaire on addictive products (tobacco, snus, alcohol, and energy drinks), digital media use, and mental health (health complaints, anxiety, and depression). Structural equation modeling was conducted to identify structures between outcomes, SEP (socioeconomic position), class type, and academic performance. Results: Students in the selective classes reported less addictive digital media and addictive products use than students in the general classes. Differences in academic performance or SEP between the class types did not solely explain these differences. Mental health was not related to the class type. SEP was indirectly associated with health behaviors via the class type and academic performance. Conclusions: Selecting students to permanent teaching groups with aptitude tests differentiates students according to risky health behaviors. The impact of education policies using student grouping should also be evaluated in terms of students' health.

The first section of this paper sets the record straight regarding many of Debouwere's (2024, "Review of Education," 12, e3445) specific criticisms. The second section discusses the magnitude of the SES-achievement relationship, specifically Debouwere's (2024) contention that the correlation is strong around 0.5 or 0.6 compared to observed correlations mostly between 0.2 and 0.3. The third section deals with five issues that Debouwere (2024) raises in his paper: (1) the stability of SES vis-à-vis cognitive ability; (2) the accuracy of children's reports of parents' socioeconomic characteristics; (3) whether teachers discriminate by students' SES; (4) the importance of cognitive ability for educational differentiation (i.e., tracking and streaming); and (5) SES effects on student achievement, controlling for prior achievement. The fourth section discusses the role of genetics in student achievement. Meta-analyses and other studies indicate that about 50%-70% of the variance in student achievement is attributable to genetics (i.e., the heritability). The high heritability of student achievement accounts for its high stability, its strong correlations with cognitive ability and the weak effects of SES, net of prior achievement or cognitive ability.

Young people growing up in England from a poorer background are less likely to progress into higher education compared to their better off counterparts. This is especially true with respect to more selective universities. This study used government administrative data to gauge the effectiveness of the 'Realising Opportunities' programme, which provides a package of support to prospective university applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds to facilitate their progression to more selective universities. Data was gathered concerning 769 16 to 18-year-old students who took part in the programme--which is delivered by a consortium of selective universities--between 2015 and 2017. This data revealed participants' personal characteristics (e.g., gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic status), school attainment and eventual university destination (or lack thereof). Additionally, national administrative data was sourced from the Department for Education's National Pupil Database and the Higher Education Statistics Agency for the entire cohort of state school pupils in England who turned 16 in the 2014-2015 academic year. This national data was used to generate a statistical model that could predict the likelihood of a young person in England progressing to a selective university based on their school attainment and other personal characteristics. Data concerning the programme participants was fed through the model and it was observed that the number of participants who had in fact progressed to selective universities greatly exceeded that predicted. Participation in the Realising Opportunities programme therefore appeared to be positively associated with an increased likelihood of progression to a selective university.

This study contributes to the substantial body of studies on the relationships between family socioeconomic status (SES), gender inequality, and higher education selection. It does so by 1) examining the association between SES and gender inequality in higher education, and 2) comparing changes in socioeconomic and gender inequality before and after the 1999 higher education expansion using eight waves of China General Social Survey (CGSS) data (2008-2018), which comprised a total sample of 57,067. The results of this study revealed that gender inequality in higher education selection in China is driven by SES, and that higher education expansion in China has not reduced socioeconomic and gender inequality in terms of higher education selection. The established inequality persists for low SES students, especially low SES females. This study not only underscores the importance of SES and gender but also expands the conceptual validity of SES (effects of SES on gender inequality) in higher education selection.

Despite evidence of unequal learning opportunities, there is limited understanding of how English learners (ELs) with disabilities are faring academically nationwide in comparison with their EL and student with disability counterparts. In response, we conducted secondary data analyses of the 2009 to 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading assessments. Compared to their peers, ELs with disabilities performed lower in both Grades 4 and 8. There is a visible improvement in this important student population's performance on the NAEP 2015 reading assessment--a year in which disaggregated reporting for ELs with disabilities performance became mandatory. These findings have implications for improved instructional, assessment, and program supports to serve ELs with disabilities.

Despite the proven effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in preventing severe illness, many individuals, including older adults who are most susceptible to the virus, have opted against vaccination. Various factors could shape vaccination decisions, including seeking health information (HI). The internet is the primary source of HI today; however, older adults are often referred to as those missing out on digital benefits. The study explores the correlations between information and communication technology (ICT) use, online HI seeking, socioeconomic factors, and COVID-19 vaccination readiness among individuals aged 50 and above in Estonia. The survey data were gathered from 501 people aged 50 and older after the first lockdown in 2020. The outcomes revealed that vaccination readiness positively correlated with factors such as higher educational attainment, greater income, male gender, access to ICT, a readiness to employ digital technologies for health-related purposes, a greater demand for HI, and a higher frequency of seeking it online. There was some discrepancy in the preference of HI sources; for example, vaccination consenters preferred online versions of professional press publications and specific health portals. Based on the findings, it is advisable to encourage older adults to utilize the internet and new technology for health-related purposes. This practice expands the range of information sources available to them, ultimately enabling better decision-making regarding their health behaviors.

A student's socioeconomic status (SES) has a significant relation to their academic achievement. Much of this work has explored this in math and reading, but less is known about how SES relates to science achievement, particularly in the early grades. Using quantile regression with nationally representative data, we explored this relation in 12,676 kindergarten students (51.2% boys, 52.2% White, 21.8% Hispanic, 12.7% Black and 6.6% Asian) and 10,339 fifth-grade students (51.3% boys, 49.4 White, 27.2% Hispanic, 9.4% Black and 8.2% Asian). We found less variability in science achievement scores for those high on SES than those low on SES. The scores of the high SES students cluster together on the high end of science achievement, whilst those from low SES score across the distribution. These findings highlight the need to explore what can mitigate the relation between SES and science achievement and where resources to support science achievement are most needed.

Numerous studies have reported that socioeconomic status (SES) predicts language skills in typically developing children. However, this association has been less systematically studied in children with developmental disabilities, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or other developmental delays (DD). In the present study, we examined the association between SES, operationalized as maternal education attainment and health insurance status, and receptive and expressive language skills in a sample of children from lower SES, racial/ethnic minority families at increased 'clinical risk' for ASD based on early screening. Neither maternal education attainment nor health insurance status were significantly associated with children's language skills. Expressive and receptive language skills were significantly higher in children with DD compared to children with ASD. Findings differ from previously published work, highlighting the importance of study replication. Further research is needed to understand why the association between SES and children's language skills might vary across samples.

Children whose families experience socioeconomic disadvantage are at risk for poor sustained attention, a foundational skill related to goal-oriented behaviour, self-regulation and kindergarten readiness. Maternal parenting behaviours and parenting stress are theorised developmental pathways linking socioeconomic status (SES) to children's sustained attention. However, research has yet to empirically test for these indirect pathways, thus limiting the relevance of extant findings to inform targets of parent-mediated programmes addressing attentional disparities at school entry for low-income children. Using a sample of mostly low-income children from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 2214) and the process of parenting model, this study tested whether maternal parenting stress, harsh parenting and cognitive stimulation uniquely explained associations between SES and child sustained attention at age 5 years. Results from structural equation modelling revealed that SES was positively and directly associated with child sustained attention. Some of these effects were indirectly transmitted through the pathway of maternal cognitive stimulation; however, neither harsh parenting nor parenting stress helped to explain the relationship between SES and child sustained attention. Implications of the findings are explored in the context of early childhood prevention and promotion programmes serving low-income families.